The invention concerns a liftable roof panel assembly for vehicles, particularly for retrofitting in such vehicles, having a hook-out, removable cover panel installed over the area of a roof opening, a frame surrounding the edge of the roof opening and a lifting device connected, on the one hand, to the frame and, on the other, to the cover panel for raising and lowering of a rear portion of the cover panel.
Roof assemblies of this type are known (U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,605). The lifting devices can be designed in various ways, and they can be operated either by a revolving handle (U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,761 and commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 170,184, filed July 18, 1980), a hinged handle (U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,901) or a motor, specifically an electric motor. However, until now it was not possible to replace one type of lifting device with another according to the customer's wish without appropriate structural changes, particularly in the frame profile.
Thus, a primary object of the present invention is to design a roof assembly of the above-mentioned type which would allow an easy change-over from one type of lifting device to another in compliance with customer's wishes.
This object is achieved in accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention by installing each of the lifting devices on one of a number of mounting plates which may be selectively and interchangeably attached to the frame in an easy replaceable manner. Accordingly, it, thus, becomes possible to manufacture and keep in stock a basic roof panel assembly without an attached lifting device, the lifting device being installed later in accordance with the customers' choice from the range of available types. Thus, manufacture and stocking becomes more efficient while, at the same time, customers are able to choose among various lifting devices.
The replaceable mounting plate may be fitted, in accordance with the present invention, with a lifting device which is operated manually by a revolving or hinged handle, or with one which can be power-operated, specifically by means of an electric motor. On the replaceable mounting plate, additional devices can also be installed, such as sun shades which, when a cover of translucent or transparent material is used, makes it possible to reduce the intensity of the incident light.